Behind COVID, Other Developments Are Being Revealed


Dear Reader,

A week ago, my wife and I ventured out from our city enclave for the first time in eight months. Yes, until then, in common with many others, our ventures from home were entirely centred on essential shopping and nothing else. Thank goodness for Whatsapp to actually be able to see other members of the larger family as birthday celebrations came around for each one of us - nearly all, as it happened, taking place between September and May! 

Our trip out last week was a mere 12 miles to a theme park, but importantly it was a meet-up with a son and his wife and children. Sad to say that our grandchildren were uncertain about us initially; almost as though we had been totally estranged. Perhaps we had begun to take on the persona of virtual people on Whatsapp - that we were no longer seen to have a real body, mind and spirit!

Anyhow, my big frame somehow survived the cramped rigours of a Thomas the Tank Engine train ride! And then, after an enjoyable day, came the return home for a further bout of isolation, but eased as the lockdown lifts.

Perhaps isolation has its benefits. Spending more time alone, cut-off, it could be that many of us have become more introspective, more compassionate, and more conscious of how our actions affect the world around us. Perhaps we also are consciously choosing to focus on unity over division, becoming more anchored in the foundational truth that we are one with each other and all of life.

Perhaps.

There is great evidence, however, that many people have become armed with a new or re-found passion to care for our planet and all creation, and to shift humanity away from the careless behaviors that have long contributed to our environmental decline. Also, the greater realisation that we can no longer sit back and trust our governments and leaders to provide the total remedy.

Perhaps also we are sensing a higher level of awareness now, to the extent that where, in the past, recycling, composting, and picking up trash may have been an admirable way to honour the Earth, it now seems more meaningful to think again in order to create a lasting change in our lives and our world.

To some, it is perhaps a matter of simply rolling up sleeves to do more. To others it may be a deeper issue - that reconsideration of our base values is the starting point before simply diving into action.

This week, we have seen what is an alarming picture of how the current COVID wave in India is affecting its citizens. I do not need to describe what we have all seen on TV. The pictures have greatly saddened me, but I have learned from my wife's relatives in the state of Kerala that the situation there is not quite the same as in, say, Maharashtra. 

The media tells us of what is going on "in India" but what they do not reveal is that different states of the country seem almost to think differently. The country is so big and diverse that it is to be expected that is the case. India cannot be governed in the same way as in the UK.

The Indian state of Kerala, in fact, is often much better organised in the matter of all manner of things, and a great deal of what they have developed by way of systems and methods has been exported to other states. What is significant in COVID is that Kerala seems to have taken serious precautions to stockpile oxygen tanks before this outbreak, and advised others to do the same. The fact that there are severe shortages in some areas is as a result of advice not being heeded, as well as (apparently) the courts refusing a government application to suspend elections (and hence stop the indoor rallies).

Further, the fact remains that India's covid death rate (deaths per 1m population) is 150, while the UK's is 1,870. That is a big difference, and it's essentially how certain areas of India have been unexpectedly and suddenly hit by a surge in epidemics that the current emergency has arisen. It is not to say that India, which has been exporting vaccines to other countries (including the UK), cannot overcome their problem.

When considering the huge disparity in the death rate between India and the UK, it should make us wonder why the media has had their focus directed to India as though it is they who are experiencing the biggest problem and not us, who are just coming out of our own massive wave. Perhaps we should be asking more as to who is controlling the focus of the media, and why.

Perhaps we should look more closely at what is happening and not rely on what is being pumped to us by self-interested media. The implication is that the UK has handled the COVID pandemic a lot better, but with 1,870 deaths per 1m is that a true conclusion to arrive at? Does the picture of Indian nationals dying in the streets detract from the reality of the UK stats?

The media needs to get its act sorted. India will, in the long run, prove to be the better run nation, in my opinion.

Importantly, apart from all the practical considerations of how COVID requires urgent management, there is an underswell of thinking rapidly developing in India that is based on the old wisdom ways of the Vedas, and from which the glory that is Indian philosophy will soon shine. A new spring is producing fresh growth.

Furthermore, a most remarkable announcement was made this week which the western media have not trumpeted as it clearly does not understand its significance (or, perhaps, does not want the western world to notice).

On April 27, the following Yahoo article (and many Asian media outlets) declared:

As the Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia laid out a new vision to usher in changes in the education system of the nation, the inclusion of Indian epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata in the school curriculum caught everyone's attention.

Titled as Vision 2030, it aims to expand their students' cultural knowledge and global exposure. The curriculum would also cast light on Indian practises such as yoga and Ayurveda which have earned Global acclaim. The English language has been made mandatory in the new Vision 2030. Many residents of Saudi Arabia have welcomed this change and asserted that 'curriculum will help to create coexistent,moderate & tolerant generation.'

This is a highly remarkable event, yet the western world is oblivious to it. It will not be long before the west catches on.

As all Hindus know, the Ramayana and Mahabharata are two great pieces of literature that have, possibly, greater impact than that of Shakespeare. Apart from being wonderful (and historic) accounts of good against evil, these epics convey wisdom teachings (which are also embedded in Shakespeare).

It is also to be noted that it is from the midst of the Mahabharata that the essence of spiritual teaching in the form of the Bhagavad Gita ("Song of the Lord") is drawn. Essentially, the Gita is the teaching of Lord Krishna to the commander of the righteous army, Arjuna, in a form that is applicable to anyone facing turmoil in their lives. And that means anyone, as every person has a battle to face in life, not just Arjuna. The battle we all have is against the ego.

That the Saudis are taking notice of these teachings (the Saudis considering themselves the stewards of Islam in the Prophet Muhammed's native land) is a great, great respect towards Indian wisdom tradition.

In the west, Muslims are often considered as being incapable of toleration towards other faiths (so-called ISIS being an extreme example), but here we have senior stewards of Islam extending the hand of friendship to Mother India, recognising India as having the oldest spiritual teachings in the world.

This is an indicator that the world - despite all the negative and actual misery occurring - is moving towards a new dimension of mutual concern.

Toleration and its greater relation, love, will, in the next decades, bear fruit. But it's not going to just happen. The call is for all to take a similar view as the Saudis, and even to transcend that view by putting self-less teachings into practise.

It is said that there is only one true religion - the religion of love.

Thank you for reading this.


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